When I wake up, I see Wanda in front of me, my arms wrapped around her stomach, me spooning her. We clearly switched positions during our nap. She's out cold. I can't help but observe how content she looks, how beautiful she looks when she sleeps. Her lips are set in a gentle smile, only causing one to form on my own face. She looks too peaceful to wake up so I get out of bed slowly and head to the kitchen to grab some water.

"You look like hell."

I look behind me and see Nat walking over in just a sports bra and workout leggings, sweat coating her face. My eyes can't help but be glued to her as she walks over and swipes my water from me, drinking from it.

"Wow, I remember the time I had a water bottle in my hand."

The red-head raises an eyebrow with a smug grin, "really? I don't."

She hands it back to me and sits down by my side, "Wanna talk about it?"

I sip on the water and shrug, not knowing how to put it into words exactly.

"Hydra is smart."

That's all it takes for Natasha to pick up on it all, she can sense my fear if anything. She nods while clasping her hands together,

"You're right. They are."

"Real reassuring Romanoff," I scoff and nudge her, earning a chuckle in return before she shakes her head.

"We're gonna do everything in our power to make sure you don't end up back there. They'll have to get through me first. And I don't know if you heard but...I'm kind of a badass."

I can hear her cocky grin without even looking over at her.

"Everyone seems to be so intent on protecting me."

"Well if we didn't then Tony would have us all murdered."

With a short laugh I stand up and shake my head, starting to feel the stress returning as I throw the plastic bottle into the recycling bin and lean on the counter, staring out the window.

"Yeah."

"Hey."

Her voice is stern but caring. I don't turn around though, I don't want pity right now. I get it, I'm the resurrected sister of the one and only Tony Stark, they all think I'm weak since they took me down so fast and locked me in a cell. I just got my memories back and I'm fragile. But I don't want that look, the one where someone looks at me like a cracked piece of glass that they are just waiting to see shatter.

Nat's hand squeezes my shoulder,

"It's also because I-we, care about you..."

I can feel her turning me towards her but I refuse to meet her eyes. I just stare down but I should've remembered that Nat is a bold woman. She places her hand under my chin and lifts my face to look at her in the eyes. She notices my forming tears and offers a comforting smile while wiping my tears away. I try to look away but she pulls my face back towards her.

"You're allowed to be scared, Y/N. But the second you got your memories back, you became one of us. We're a family. And family protects one another, at all costs. No matter what. You got our back and we got yours. Agreed?"

Family.

I haven't had one of those in a while. The only thing that came close was Pietro, but I lost him too. The only person left from my blood family is Tony. But now Nat is saying I'm part of this family. I have a family. And family protects one another. I'll protect them, no matter what.

"Agreed."

I smile back at her and she seems satisfied with my response, grinning as she drops her arms.

"Great. Now I have to go shower if you don't mind."

"You should, you smell like crap."

Gasping she slaps my arm, "Watch it Stark, or I'm gonna have to beat your ass again."

She tosses a wink my way before disappearing around the corner. I decide to head down to the lab to work with Bruce until we all get together for dinner. There's a heavy silence weighing over everyone, especially since Tony isn't here. He's been gone ever since the meeting with Fury.

"So, Y/N, how are you settling in?" Steve asks to break the silence. I look up and feel eyes on me. Wow, now that's a beautiful spotlight.

I toss the man a kind smile, "good, actually. You guys aren't as shitty as I thought you'd be. Minus Nat, she's a pain in the ass."

She scoffs and tilts her head, "please, you know you love me."

"Oh yeah, getting electrocuted by you on our first interaction? You're right, the sparks really flew."

Everyone started laughing at that, including Nat who just stares at me with a wide grin as she sips her drink.

Clint coughs and mutters, "get a room" under his breath. Natasha's quick to respond with, "as if Y/N could get me into bed with her."

I look down, starting to feel my cheeks heat up by the intense attention on us both now. I feel a specific set of eyes staring at me and I don't need to look up to know that it's the scarlet-eyed witch. I slowly lift my head to glance at her, seeing her jaw tightly locked but when she sees I noticed her stare, she breaks her gaze and clears her throat.

"It's getting late, I'll see you all in the morning."

"Come on Wanda, the night's just begun!" Thor smiles brightly with his arms raised. I glance at the beautiful girl who held me in her arms just earlier today and she tosses Thor a soft smile.

"Thank you Thor, but I should really get some rest. You guys have fun, though."

Without another word, she leaves the room. Nobody seems to think twice about it but I want to go chase her down and talk to her. Instead, I decide it's best to leave her be and hangout with everyone for the night. We spend it just talking, they ask about what Tony was like as a kid so I let them revel in the amusement of his dorkiness before we head to bed.

I try to sleep but fail miserably with all the thoughts running through my head. Every time I close my eyes I just imagine them taking me, but more importantly I imagine them hurting my new family. I fall back to bed and force my eyes shut. Everything will be fine. We're a family.